臺大管理論叢 NTU Management Review VOL.29 NO.1

115 NTU Management Review Vol. 29 No. 1 Apr. 2019 Table 3 Differential Effects of Causal Paths Strategic Motive → Learning Strategy Path Coefficients t -values Significance Exploitation Exploration Market Expansion 0.138 0.202 10.606 p < 0.01 Technology Acquisition 0.243 1.006 -2.2548 p < 0.05 Learning Strategy → Partner Selection Path Coefficients t -values Significance ISTK ESTK Exploitation 1.644 0.534 14.019 p < 0.01 Exploration 0.612 1.163 -9.676 p < 0.01 Learning Strategy* Context → Partner Selection Path Coefficients t -values Significance ISTK ESTK Exploitation* IV 1.644 0.534 8.625 p < 0.01 Exploration* IV -0.05 -0.645 6.725 p < 0.01 Notes: ISTK = internal stakeholder, ESTK = external stakeholder, IV = institutional voids. Firstly, regarding the causal paths between the strategic motive and the learning strategy, γ 11 (0.138, p < 0.05) is smaller than γ 21 (0.202, p < 0.01); it implies that firms entering foreign countries for market expansion may not necessarily undertake the exploitative learning more than the exploratory one. Hypothesis 1a is thus not supported. This discrepancy is surprising and will be discussed in the next section. γ 22 (1.006, p < 0.01) is significantly bigger than γ 12 (0.243, insignificant); this result renders support to Hypothesis 1b and indicates that firms entering foreign countries for acquiring technologies tend to adopt the exploratory learning strategy. Secondly, regarding the causal paths between the learning strategy and the partner selection, β 11 (1.644, p < 0.01) is bigger than β 21 (0.534, p < 0.01). This result shows that firms undertaking the exploitative learning are more inclined to find the R&D partners from their internal stakeholders rather than from their external stakeholders; Hypothesis 2a is thus supported. Besides, β 22 (1.163, p < 0.05) is bigger than β 12 (0.612, p < 0.05), which also supports Hypothesis 2b; namely, firms with the exploratory learning strategy are more inclined to choose the R&D partners from their external stakeholders rather than from their internal stakeholders.